Count Them
by The Reviewer
Summary: The night Lily and James died. Not your run of the mill ending either, I hope you enjoy the irnoy as much as I did.


**_Disclaimer:_**_ Forgot to write it the first time so I am now. None of the characters belong to me but I highly doubt I had to tell you that!_

**_AN_**_: First of all: this turned out to be much longer then I first thought it was going to be. To think it all started out when I wanted to type something on my spiffy new laptop. Alright, I believe I don't have much to say other then that: I like, I like it a lot actually and that is something rather unusual for me. Also thank you to my one reviewer, I'm glad you enjoyed it._

**_Count Them_**

"Snap!"

She didn't stop to investigate but kept running. Inside she smiled though, the traps in the yard were exceeding her expectations. Another snap and her smile evaporated, at the same time they were coming faster then she had ever expected them to. Looks like they had even less intelligent then she had originally given them credit for. Then again she had been basing them on Squire and Silver and they would never have made someone else's mistake nor their own twice.

Lily burst into Harry's room and picked up what had been the only occupant. He was ready with his arms out and a goofy grin on his face. She whispered in his ear that he should have been asleep only so he could hear her voice. With him in her arms she took off again but was happy to note on her way out that her hands were rock steady. 

She slowed top of the stairs and looked down; James' back was to her. He had a cut on his head but it didn't look bad. She felt the cool metal against her thigh blindly she reached behind and took out the knife.  
  
           "James." He turned and caught it by the handle when she threw it to him. He might find it handy, wands were great and all but in her opinion there was just no replacing a sharp knife or a loaded gun when it came down to crunch time. Speaking of which, she moved silently down the hall to the side closet. It was kept there because they wouldn't want Harry to get his cute little hands on this toy. It was a shot gun, it was pump action but that was alright, the chances were good that she would have the time to use it. After all even if she didn't hit them on the first shot the chances were good that they would be stunned enough to give her the time she needed to get the second off. That was what they had decided would make up their main defenses: muggle traps and weapons. The Death Eaters probably wouldn't know how to deal with them.

She set Harry down on the floor. He looked at her with his big, green eyes.   
  
           "Mummy?" he didn't like the way she was moving, in quick jerky movements and ignoring him more then he was used to.   
  
           "Darling, you play on your rug for a few minutes ok? Mummy's gotta go help Daddy with something. I'll be back soon."  
  
            He nodded: satisfied. Lily picked him up again and put him on his rug; it was spelled so he couldn't leave it until she got back. The walls of the room were so heavily spelled that she wondered if Dumbledore himself could have gotten in. She felt confident that anyone who wanted to get in would have to go through her and James downstairs. Harry would only get in the way and had a better chance of being hurt. She kissed the top of his head before doubling back the way she had come. She killed one with the gun as she rounded the corner into the kitchen. James whipped around but relaxed when he saw it was her. Lily's aim had been true, though you couldn't see the blood because of the black robe. She smiled again. She loved them; it made everything look so much cleaner. Guns could be very dangerous to use against a wizard. If they had enough time to see it and know a bullet was coming subconscious magic could kick in and the next thing you knew the bullet would be hovering in the air. Lily usually only used hers for surprise attacks like the one that took place a few seconds before.  
   
           "Nice," James whispered in her ear, "Harry?"  
  
           "On the rug." He nodded, "Best place for him right now."  
  
           "Any sign of Squire or Silver?"  
  
           "None."  
  
           "What's the situation?"  
  
           "We managed to take out 10 in the back, I don't think they were expecting muggle traps and they worked like a charm. As you can see a few got in regardless." Lily had already taken note of the black figure behind the bar, probably as a result of a well placed death spell courtesy of James. There was also one slumped over the table.

"How are things upstairs?"

"Quiet as a tomb."

"Well that's encouraging."  
  
           "They moved in quicker then we thought." She still had her gun aimed at the door. They wouldn't have time to perform any magic.  
  
           "I know. Look..." she glanced to the side at him as he spoke, "I want you to go upstairs with Harry." She raised an eyebrow at him.  
  
           "I would feel better if you were up there with him."  
  
           "We can't do that. We both know that we have to stop them here or we don't have a chance. This might be a safe place now but pretty soon it's going to turn into a prison."  
  
           "I'm aware of that," A rare sign of exasperation, "Please just go!" _Why? This wasn't making sense.  
  
           "He's here Lily," it was said so softly that she wondered for a second if he had said it at all. With a quick look at his face she knew there was no doubt.  
  
           "Go," the door was being worked on with magic.   
  
           "Mummy?" Lily didn't think she had ever spun around so quickly in her whole life. How had Harry gotten off his rug? She had spelled it so he couldn't!   
  
           "Take Harry and go! I'll hold him off," James was holding a knife by its handle and had it up next to his ear preparing to throw it as soon as the door opened. His wand in his other hand was also ready for action. For the first time that night her heart began pounding in her chest and her breath came out quick and uneven. She was a professional assassin. This type of thing normally didn't faze her so what was wrong? Everything. In a crash nothing seemed right. They were going quicker despite the traps, Squire and Silver weren't there. Why the bloody hell not?! Harry had gotten off his rug and James was frightened. Not something to be taken lightly at all. Like her, this type of thing usually didn't affect him until later, if at all. She turned, raced up the stairs feeling chased and claustrophobic as she swooped Harry up in her arms heading back toward the room with his rug. She heard the door open but didn't stop and check to see what was going on. _

_"Run, run as fast as you can, you can't catch me I'm the ginger bread man!"_

James's voice drifted up the stairs to her ears, "Me first!" It was a code, a bit of a misnomer. It meant that he wasn't going to be right behind, the first one up the stairs and that she should turn on the rest of the traps at the top of the stairs. Lily didn't question, James would never give such an order unless he was positive. She also didn't allow herself to think about what that would mean. She felt Harry's hands clinging on to her shoulder; it felt like his small (but sharp!) nails were going to scratch her up. She slammed the door shut just as she heard her trap give way. It was a wire that would start at the top of the stairs and would slice through anything on the way down. It was spelled to move incredibly fast, whoever was on the stairs would be a bloody mess at the bottom, ripped in two at the middle.   
  
           "_Please," she thought, "__please let it of hit Him, please."   
  
           There was silence for about a minute until she heard someone walking up the stairs. They hadn't gotten him. If that last one had been him the others would have turned and fled, not bothered to come up here after her. Still he was alone...but so was she._

"_One is the loneliest number that you ever knew…"_ she shook her head. She had a bad habit of doing that: parts of a song or phrase would sometimes run through her head when she was frightened. In a weird way it made her feel just a tiny bit better, more in control, like what was going on around her was nothing more then some sick fantasy that would soon be over.

 Harry was gently deposited on his rug. 

"_Two can be as bad as one, it's the loneliest number since the number one…_" but this was ridiculous!

Lily sat in a chair facing the door but between it and Harry. She shook violently until she was actually in the chair and then she was as clam as before. Her wand was drawn and pointed at the door, the gun was just beside her left thigh, in her left hand, the window was behind her a little to her left and allowed moonlight to stream through in an unbroken beam. Should she try to shoot first? Or use her wand? Or do nothing? Life and death questions with no time to consider them; the door was opening. She rapidly decided on nothing. Voldemort would not be so bold as to saunter in, in her full line of sights… would he? Not if he had any sense. Then again, he was very arrogant but wouldn't she be committing that very same mistake in assuming he was? It really was a good thing time had a habit of slowing down in these situations or she would have been screwed long ago. Seconds before she came into his line of vision she shifted the gun behind her, out of sight.  
  
           "Mrs. Potter, what a pleasure."  
  
           "Evening."  
  
           "And young Mister Potter; my, my look how big he is." Harry just looked up at him with confused eyes. Lily felt an absurd sense of pride in not seeing any fear there.  
Voldemort wasn't finished, "It's amazing how fast they grow isn't? You must be very proud. He's the man of the house after all."   
  
           Lily felt her breath catch in her throat. She understood what he was getting at but no grief came. It didn't surprise her; she knew that in her heart she didn't think James was dead. Total denial, she saw people who suffered from it all the time. In this case she was happy for it, James was fine. _Right_, _sure_.  
  
           "What do you want?"  
  
           "Just to chat but you two certainly aren't the most hospital of people."  
  
           "Well if that's all you came here to do then please continue, I'm at the edge of my seat."  
  
           "You're still against me," it wasn't really a question.  
  
           "Right to the point, excellent, I hate dancing around don't you? To answer your question: if I wasn't then I sure as hell am now."  
  
           "Pity, you did great work."  
  
           "Thank you."

"You're check is in the mail."

"I'm sure it is."  
  
           "You could come work for me again. I would love to have a nice Slytherin girl such as your self but I'm afraid we just don't have time to baby sit." He drew his wand towards Harry.

            He lowered his voice in a tone used for confidentiality, "Come, you can do better then this. I know you can. You know you can. These two are only slowing you down."

            "Thought you weren't interested in mudbloods?"

            Come we both know you are no mudblood." _Did Silver spill the beans?_ It was doubtful but not out of the question. Her body tensed in the chair, her hands tightening on their respective weapons. _Squish! Squish em all! Yes Voldemort deserved to be squished. She almost grinned. _

            "No."

            He sighed, "I was afraid you'd say that." He started to move toward Harry. Only then did Lily stand up, a little less gracefully then she would have liked but her legs held her. 

            "Not Harry! Please not Harry!" Her hand tightened on her wand. They both knew that he had to relieve her of it before he could do anything to the little Potter boy. 

            "I'll do anything!" She was walking backwards in front of her son, she half wondered for a moment if she was just acting or not. A part of her was panicking while the other half was in a clam kind of trance. He smiled his stereo type evil smile and let loose the incantation. The gun was wrenched from her hand. She blinked for a moment. Ok so it had been a given that he had known that she had it but what were the chances that he had considered it a threat above her wand? She also had to admit that he was damn quick with his wand but that was a given in itself wasn't it?

            "Stand aside girl!"

            "No! Please!" She hated herself for the way she sounded. Desperate. Helpless. She wasn't moving though, he would have to kill her. She clenched her mouth, she was a dead woman as of now she had no other reason for living other then not moving from that spot. She no longer cared about anything other then being between him and Harry. Before she could think about it for too long and give herself away she aimed her wand and said the killing curse. 

            The spell missed him by centimeters but it was a miss all the same and before she could get another spell out her wand was in his hot little hand. Well so much for that. Lily was trained in the material arts but seriously doubted they would be of any help. 

            "Get out of the way." She didn't move. He raised _her_ wand, she had heard it rumored that he enjoyed killing people with their own wands when he could. Turn their own magic against them. Time slowed down again until he was in slow motion. If she moved then he would hit Harry, if she didn't then she was going to die; plain and simple. If anyone had given her this scenario before this night she would have had to admit that it would be a difficult choice. Now that she was living it she realized it was no contest: she would rather die then let something happen to Harry. It didn't register in her thoughts that he was going to die right after she did, that didn't matter, he would live for that few seconds more. The green light was coming and she wasn't moving. 

            Closer.

            Closer.

            Closer.

            Blackness.

****

            The man could only see Voldemort's shadow from his place in the tree. He had been watching the whole thing waiting for Voldemort to walk into his line of sights. It was finally happening. He wished it hadn't taken this long, not just for him to be seen through the window but just in general. It was almost time though, Squire could feel it. He looked down the scope of his sniper. Voldemort was raising his wand at Harry. Harry, for his part, was just watching with wide eyes. They weren't quite frightened yet, even with his Mother on the floor, in his innocent, limited world she was just sleeping. 

            The death spell was released on the young boy. As the spell was in the air the bullet hit Voldemort; it was a perfect hit, right to the temple by the look of it. The spell still hit the child, but with its owner dead, not as strongly, still the kid put his head down and was still.

            Squire gritted his teeth, it was done, the Dark Lord was dead but it had come at the cost of the life of one of his best friends. With out warning the house went up in flames. Squire jumped to the ground, he had to get out of there! There would be time for grief later.

**_The End_**

**_AN_**_: And the rest is history. Well what did you people think? I don't think that's what really happened but I love the thought that old Voldie was killed by a sniper. Meh, was fun. Thank you for reading._


End file.
